Mandela Washington Fellows Call For Increased Women’s Inclusion To Promote Sustainable Development In Nigeria

The Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN) has called for increased women’s inclusion and empowerment at all levels of government to promote sustainable development and advance social justice in the country.

MWFAAN made the call at an event to market its International Women’s Day held Saturday at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, with the theme ‘Count Her In: Inspiring Inclusion and Empowerment.’

Speaking at the event, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Citizenship and Leadership, Rinsola Abiola, highlighted the necessity of breaking barriers hindering women’s participation in leadership across various sectors of national life.

She said, “Today’s event is essentially to spotlight women, and what we need to do to lower the barriers to women’s leadership and inclusion. What do we need to do to ensure women are better represented across different sectors of our national lives? That women are empowered to make contributions to nation-building and to be the best they can be across different sectors. To have a more fulfilled life and to be better equipped as citizens to contribute to Nigeria.”

She stressed the need for structural changes, particularly through legal mechanisms, including the push for constitutional amendments to ensure better representation and equity for Nigerian women.

“There are a number of structural changes that need to be made and one of these is through the instrumentality of the law. I’m sure of some of the gender bill that didn’t succeed in the last assembly, but we are all hoping as women and gender advocates that this won’t play out this time around with the call for Constitutional alteration, proposals now and to call for public participation in the constitutional amendment process.

“I’m hoping that this time around the National Assembly will live up to expectations of Nigerian women and enact bills and except amendments to the Constitution that will deliver much better rights for Nigerian women that will really entrench equity in our constitution. We also have to look at other social issues like violence against women and other things that affect women’s participation and women quality of life,” Abiola said

Abiola commended efforts made by the Nigeria Police Force in handling gender-related issues but called for further training and capacity building for officers in that regard.

She said, “That’s also where law enforcement comes in, and the Nigerian police I’m aware have undergone quite a number of developments in being better at handling gender-related issues. Dedicated Gender unit, there is AIG who is the gender adviser to the Nigeria Police Force. There’s a lot more training that needs to be done and a lot more capacity building to enable our law enforcement officers to handle issues that have to do with women properly.”

Abiola urged other states to emulate Lagos State’s initiatives, such as the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency established to combat violence against women effectively

“I would like to encourage other states across the federation to take the lead from Lagos State. Lagos has a domestic and sexual violence agency, and even from the sound of it, you will know that it’s a gender-focused government.

”Let us also have agencies dedicated to tackling the scourge of violence against women and to holding perpetrators accountable. We need to send a message that it is not okay to trample upon women’s rights. It is not okay to violate women’s rights as a state, as a government at every level, federal level, state level, and local government level. We will not sit back and fold our hands and let people trample upon the rights of women” she said.

Farida Yahya, President of MWFAAN, said it’s important to not only include women but also empower them.

“For us at MWFAAN we wanted to expand it further and not just include her but also empower her. This is very important because when you include women you also give them the tools and support that they need,” Yahya said.

She outlined three important pillars of MWFAAN as membership, funding, and community creation, to support women’s success and recognize their impactful contributions to society.

“Membership helps women succeed. Funding; a lot of women will tell you that they are over-trained and under-funded. Even though there is funding, especially for women accessing it is usually a problem. Women must have the right support in their lives so they can be able to thrive, and ⁠create community; that’s why we are here today and we are celebrating women by giving them awards because we believe in telling women we recognize the impact that they are making is very important to our society.

“Women need policies that are very inclusive and diverse, we have a lot of women living with disability and they are not getting the support that they need when it comes to hospitals and getting a sign interpreter about what they are saying. I think it’s important if we look at all this holistically. Let’s involve everybody, Government, community leaders, and religious leaders. Everyone needs to have their hands on deck because women make up the majority of the population,” she noted.

Highlighting MWFAAN’s initiatives, Yahya unveiled projects such as the eFunds and state coordination projects aimed at empowering women across various regions of Nigeria.

“The first one is this event that we are having today, the eFunds which we will unveil in April and we are currently working to be able to involve 15 African countries in sharing their soft skills with young Nigerians. We are also passionate about doing state coordination projects. We have a project that supports women in AGRIC which is going on in Taraba state we believe we should not just stay at the centre like Abuja and Lagos but go deeper to other parts of Nigeria.

“We have over almost 600 dynamic leaders across the 36 states and FCT, and more than half of the number are women. A lot of cluster groups are being run by women, and a lot of our projects are being run by women. Women are actively involved in any project that we do.

“We also try to celebrate women who have done well. We gave 9 awards last week in Lagos and we are giving 9 awards today in Abuja. The focus is to encourage women who have been doing well in their community and also to tell them that there’s a lot more work on front ahead of us,” she added

Some individuals awarded during the event were;

1. MWFAAN HER-Excellence Trailblazer (North)-Founder of Hope Behind Bars, Funke Adeoye.
2. Inclusive Leadership Award (North)- Founder of Deaf Women Aloud Initiative, Hellen Bayioku Alase.
3. Visionary Entrepreneur Award (NORTH) – Regalia Pop-up events, Regalia fashion house, Rakeeba Bello.
4. Community Catalyst Award (NORTH) – Founder of Village Debo Care Initiative, Samira Modibbo.
5. Young Rising Leader (NORTH) – Founder Frank Abuzi Foundation, Frank Nice Abuzi.
6. Advocate for Equality (NORTH) – Executive Director of Dorothy Njemanze Foundation, Dorothy Njemanze .
7. Career Achievement Award (NORTH)- Country Director, Search for Common Good Nigeria Country Program, Fatima Madaki
8. Inspirational Mentor Award (NORTH) – Founder of Inclusive Friends Association, Grace Jerry.
9. Public Service Champion Award: Keynote Speaker – Rinsola Abiola – SSA to President on Citizenship and Leadership

MWFAAN, a non-profit organisation comprising over 570 Mandela Washington Fellows, is supported by the US Embassy in Abuja, the US Consulate in Lagos, and the US Department of State in Washington DC.

The association is dedicated to fostering positive change, empowering youth, and advancing leadership development in Nigeria.